Congressional Candidate Christina Bohannan’s visit to Oskaloosa and southeast Iowa

Congressional candidate Christina Bohannan praised the Mahaska County YMCA as a center of the community and pledged to support programs that promote the health and wellbeing of both seniors and children while touring the facility.

Bohannan, a Democrat who will face Republican incumbent Mariannette Miller-Meeks in the November 5 election, was on a listening tour through the five counties comprising Iowa Senate District 44. The Wednesday, April 3 outing was organized by the Rural Restoration Project, a nonprofit founded by leaders from the district to build economic and social opportunities in the area through education and advocacy.

Bohannan toured the $31.4 million Mahaska County YMCA, which opened in August. The facility has allowed the Y to expand programs for all ages, including seniors.

“We’re doing a much better job of serving the community,” board president Mike Foster said. A collaboration between the city, Oskaloosa schools and the Y financed the sprawling building, complete with attached childcare center. Some dollars, director Barry Martin said, were from federal COVID support programs passed through from state government.

Bohannan visited with seniors participating in a Silver Sneakers class. Most attend at no cost thanks to Medicare insurance programs.

Bohannan told the class she has visited the county before and “I know how much things like the hospital and the YMCA matter here. I’m strongly supportive of that sense of community,” with options to improve the quality of life for people of all ages. “When I’m in Congress, I will be looking, absolutely, for ways to support these kinds of opportunities in our local communities.”

Besides services for seniors, childcare was a major emphasis of Bohannan’s visit, as more than half the facility’s budget is devoted to serving young children.

Even with the expansion of childcare offerings at the YMCA and Oskaloosa schools, “we’ve by no means solved our childcare” need, Martin said, “and we’re one community out of many.” Income from memberships and other sources helps subsidize childcare, which otherwise would run at a loss, he said.

Bohannan agreed. “We need to support childcare and elder care … both of those,” she said. “We really need, I think, more governmental help, more funding, just because it’s not working. If the market was going to provide a business model, we would have it already.”

Later, at the Sigourney Senior Center, Bohannan touted her record in the Iowa House of Representatives, where she led passage of a bill to prevent the emotional, physical and financial abuse of the elderly. But more can be done, she said, to help seniors.

“We lack the support professionals” for elder care, she said. “They’re some of the lowest-paid workers that we see in Iowa, and I think that plus childcare are going to be two of our biggest issues.” The lack of both adequate childcare and eldercare are threats to the economy, Bohannan said, because workers will be forced to quit if home care is unaffordable or unavailable.

Bohannan met at a Fairfield home with Fairfield Cares president Jennifer Hamilton and project manager Vanessa Pohren. Hamilton is a nurse and death midwife who has practiced privately for 20 years, mainly focusing on hospice care, and is a founding member of Fairfield Cares. Pohren is a former manager and administrator at Fairfield’s SunnyBrook Home Care.

Fairfield Cares promotes in-home care for elders through community support. It’s exploring and encouraging such approaches as elder group homes and multigenerational living. The group also focuses on end-of-life care and seeks to open a hospice house, a home-like setting for terminal patients, in Jefferson County.

Reimbursement from federal and state elder care programs, however, aren’t conducive to these initiatives, Pohren and Hamilton said. They told Bohannan that Medicare and Medicaid regulations must change to encourage care that keeps the elderly and disabled in their homes.

At the Keosauqua Senior Center, Bohannan heard from Van Buren County residents about how expensive prescription and over-the-counter drugs were affecting their lifestyle.

Bohannan said the issue is important to her, partly because of her experiences as a child. When her father contracted emphysema, his health insurance was terminated and “we pretty much lost everything,” Bohannan said. “It really did truly become about choosing when we were going to fill his prescription, when we were going to buy groceries, when we were going to put gas in the car. … I saw how devastating that was.”

Keith and Sandy Dimmitt, both 72, said they paid $4,800 in prescription drug copayments in 2023 despite belonging to a Medicare Advantage plan. The Bentonsport residents have had health problems, with Sandy receiving a cancer diagnosis.

Further, Keith Dimmitt noted that his wife’s monthly infusions of cancer drugs at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics are billed at $76,000 each – but under insurance, they pay just $145.

Bohannan gasped when she heard the billed amount. “That’s the thing,” she said. “It’s like nobody knows what the real cost of drugs is. Everybody is paying something different” depending on their home country and their insurance plans.

“It just feels like a moving target all the time, and it just feels really scary because you just never know what you’re going to get, and you live in constant fear of losing your insurance or something going wrong.”

In Mt. Pleasant, Bohannan spoke with seniors who have benefited from Henry County’s Senior Health Insurance Information Program (SHIIP), volunteers who help people enroll in Medicare and maximize its provisions. The program, based at the Henry County Health Center, has helped area residents save thousands of dollars on drug expenses.

At the Belle Center co-working space on the former Iowa Wesleyan University campus, retired Mt. Pleasant teacher Bonnie Kremer sang SHIIP’s praises. Not only did its volunteers help her and her husband get onto Medicare (and off an expensive private plan), they also have helped the couple save by helping them choose the best Part D prescription drug plan.

“I cannot tell you how grateful I am for them,” Kremer added.

Betty Mullen, retired from the Mt. Pleasant Mental Health Institute, said SHIIP also has saved her and her husband on their drug benefit costs. The family used that savings to cover healthcare costs for their son, who suffered from sickle cell anemia.

“It really helped us, in a lot of ways,” Mullen said. Each year, she said, “I look forward to going to my little interview” to choose a new drug plan.

Bohannan was enthusiastic. “I am already a huge fan, and I will support funding for SHIIP,” she said. “It’s huge. So that, to me, this is a no-brainer.”

Meanwhile, Bohannan said Miller-Meeks voted against the bill that lets Medicare negotiate lower drugs on some prescription drugs. “That’s just unacceptable,” she added.